Our Wicked Lady (Roof)

Brooklyn, NY

$10.00 - $12.00

This event is 21 and over

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Riding in on a cloud of smoke, psychedelic travelers Shadow Band makes sounds that move like foggy dreams from fantastical lands. Their patient but powerful songs set in motion a series of refracting echoes that call forth images of medieval battles, spirits unseen by human eyes and the gentle, constant pulsing of the universe.

The band formed organically around the songwriting force of Mike Bruno, a quiet figure whose vibrant mental landscape is the center of the group's orbit. Coming up in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Bruno immersed himself in a self-made world of gloomy sonic alchemy, honing his songcraft as a solo act and proving himself a welcome addition to New Brunswick's small-but-dedicated freak scene. The early years saw Bruno attracting a rotating cast of area heads around his growing arsenal of songs and dubbing it Black Magic Family Band. The sprawling web of artists varied with every gig and recording session, but the roots of Shadow Band started here. After moving to Philly, a few blurry years passed and key players of the Family Band solidified into a steadfast lineup. Drummer Matt Marchesano and multi-instrumental zoner Sean Yenchick had both played with Mike for years in various formations, as had bassist James Christy. Also in the mix full time was Jacob Brunner, who'd been a long time part of the Weyes Blood crew and worked on his own mind melted sounds as Strawberry Hands. The ensemble was rounded out by Michigan-to-Philly transplants Jules Nehring and Morgan Morel, both coming from small, veiled scenes in Ann Arbor/Yspilanti that twisted together hallucinogenic noise and depressive garage rock into acts like their former bands Bad Indians or Hlep. As this core membership developed, the group continued playing on, joined sometimes by auxiliary players when the situation called for it, but now less frequently.

Earlier iterations of the project were only captured on grainy, hiss-heavy four track cassette recordings during all night rituals, leaving a trail of fuzzy, rough-hewn small scale releases. In the beginning stages of working on songs for a debut album, the cohort entered a studio for the first time to capture a higher-end rendering of their universe. This quickly proved impossible, and after only a few days working in a legit studio, both the band and the label agreed to reverse course. Progress was made by moving backwards; Brunner, Nehring, and Morel began capturing the sounds of the band as they retreated into their lair. Recording at home over the course of many moons and seasons, Morel gathered the sounds and wove an outpouring of songs that would make up the debut album Wilderness of Love as well as various other pools of material.

The result is a fully congealed and creative wave that crests somewhere within the gentle vibrations of the natural world, an ominous psychedelic dream state and the world's highest game of D&D. Shadow Band sets forth on a journey into the next world, taking their songs of golden sunrise folk and death-knell blues on tour and always cultivating new sounds in their self-made and seemingly limitless world.

Described by the Obelisk as "Laid back atmosphere of heavy psychedelia and rolling low end groove," Sun Voyager is a heavy psych rock power trio consisting of members Carlos Francisco, Stefan Mersch, and Kyle Beach. Originally hailing from the Hudson Valley and migrating to Brooklyn, they formed in 2012 as a four-piece while Francisco was attending school in Albany. They released a pair of 3-song demos in 2013 (Cosmic Tides and Mecca), both of which received acclaim from a number of heavy music publications such as The Obelisk, Heavy Planet, and The Soda Shop, before signing on with King Pizza Records in 2014.

Sun Voyager recorded eight tracks at Ghostload Sound in 2014 which ultimately became Grease Voyage (split with Brooklyn's Greasy Hearts) and 2015's Lazy Daze EP which features some heavier tracks such as "God Is Dead" and "Gypsy Hill," along with mellower psych grooves like "Be Here Now." Mersch and Kyle relocated to Brooklyn somewhere along the way and lead guitarist Steven Friedman moved to Alabama, but the trio of continues to write, record, and play tons of shows all over the Northeastern United States.

The voyage has just begun. A debut LP is on the way in 2016 along with a split 7" with labelmates The Mad Doctors.